Federation era images document Sydney’s love affair with cricket

When the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed in January 1901 cricket was already a hugely popular pastime.

The first post-Federation tour by an English cricket team, in the 1901/02 season, took interest in the sport to a whole new level.

AC MacLaren’s England team commenced their tour with warm-up matches against the states. They were beaten by South Australia, bounced back to defeat Victoria then lost to New South Wales by 58 runs.

If the interest was high already, by the time the First Test in Sydney started on 13th December 1901, the city was seized by a madness for cricket. This was the Federation era’s version of Beatlemania. Even the Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, would be there.

House full at the SCG for the First Test of 1901 (State Library of NSW collections) – (NB: this is the photo with the members stand)

Fans pack the SCG outer, 1901 (State Library of NSW collections)

The Evening News ran a story questioning why so many Government Departments almost ceased to do business while Test matches were on. They also implored their readers not to ring the office asking for cricket scores otherwise their staff would be unable to do any work.

Cricket obsessed fans made their way to the city to watch big scoreboards installed out the front of newspaper offices. The concept of a ‘live blog’ was well known to our Federation era forebears.

Crowd looking at a scoreboard in Market Street, Sydney during the match between New South Wales and England, Feb. 1902 (State Library of NSW collections)

The teams, featuring some of the most notable names of cricket’s golden age, were:
Australia: J Darling (c), CE McLeod, C Hill, M Noble, H Trumble, V Trumper, S Gregory, J Kelly (wk), F Laver, E Jones, W Powell

England: A MacLaren (c), T Hayward, J Tyldesley, S Barnes, A Jones, J Gunn, G Jessop, A Lilley (wk), C Blythe, L Braund, W Quaife

For the record, England scored 464 in their first innings. Australia replied with 168 and 172 when forced to follow on.

England scored a resounding win by an innings and 124 runs to lead the series 1-0. In a stunning reverse, Australia managed to win the series 4-1, giving a sporting pat on the back to the newly federated nation.

Well dressed patrons in front of the Brewongle Stand, December 1901 (State Library of NSW collections)

But this story is not so much about the series itself but the hold that cricket had on the Australian sporting public.

I recently came across these photos in the archives of the State Library of NSW showing the action from the first Ashes Test in December 1901 (the city scoreboard is from the tour match against NSW in February 1902).

Featured in the photographs are: massed ranks of well dressed patrons wearing a variety of headwear; a scoreboard that can be read if you zoom in close enough; a child sitting on someone’s lap in the Members Pavilion; elegantly dressed women in front of the Ladies Pavilion; two white-helmeted bobbies in conversation; fans in Market Street watching scoreboards setup by the newspaper offices.

A child sits on his father’s lap while the SCG members follow the action, First Test December 1901 (State Library of NSW collections)

Elegantly dressed women promenade in front of the Ladies Pavilion. Two policeman can be seen bottom centre, December 1901 (State Library of NSW collections)

Spectators on the hill grab any vantage point they can, including a few intrepid souls on the scoreboard roof. The cycle track is clearly visible, December 1901 (State Library of NSW collections)

Unfortunately we do not know the photographer(s) but they have left us a remarkable record of a time long ago.